KH2: Destiny's Embrace
by GeneratorSlasher
Summary: Two girls come together to learn about truth, love, and friendship while on their adventure to search for their friends. Rated T just in case for language and violence
1. Chapter 1

Kingdom Hearts II DOES NOT belong to me in any shape form or fashion! This is only for fun. Everything KHII related belongs to Square-Enix. Marlene belongs to Usei-chan, while Tohru belongs to me, GeneratorSlasher. Before this goes any farther, any stupid fangirl flamers, I do NOT want to have my reviews filled with 'OMIGAWSH! ( enter character's name here ) WOULD NEVER DO THAT!11! YOU SUCK!" or any " ( enter character's here ) IS MINE YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!111!oneone!" This is just for fun that my friend and I have been working on, and we wanted to share it with people. If you have cristism, I'm more then happy to listen, but I don't want to listen to stupid fangirls being all stupid. Thank you and please enjoy the fanfic.

"Let's see… it looks like we finally have enough to go! Beach here we come!" Hayner exclaimed, holding up the pouch of munny.

"I'm so excited that we finally get to go! It's like all our hard work finally paid off." a young brunette named Olette smiled as she looked over to her other friend Pence.

Listening to all of his companions talk excitedly about their plans to go to the beach, Roxas crosses his arms and looks around down several streets, searching for his missing friend.

"Where is she? She was supposed to meet us already." He said with a worried frown on his face, his blonde hair blowing in the soft breeze.

Running down the streets of Station Heights, a girl with short honey brown hair huffed in an exhausted manner. Her corset type t-shirt clung to her, making it even harder for her to bolt down the street like she had planned, to make it to the meeting point on time. The pants she was wearing had straps on the sides that wrapped around and attached to the back of her legs.

"I gotta hurry! Hayner said they would leave me if I was late..!" A slight blush passed across her slightly sweat covered her cheeks. "And Roxas…" Her eyes widened and she growled almost in determination, and picked up her speed.

"Well she's not here yet…so she's probably not coming. We should go so we can have a whole day to spend at the beach." sighed Hayner, a little irritated at the fact that their other friend hadn't arrived.

" It's okay Roxas, we can bring her something back." Pence said smiling slightly, trying to cheer Roxas up.

Roxas frowned and looked down at the ground, looking rather upset. When it looked like he was about to give in and go along with the others a loud high pitched yell came from down the street. Eyes widening, he looks up and spots the young girl dashing towards them. Smiling, Roxas waves happily.

"Marlene! You made it!" Roxas said brightly.

Though he acknowledged her presence, Marlene showed no sign of slowing down. Olette, their other girl companion gasped in shock and looked over at Hayner and Pence.

"Incoming.." She whispered in their direction and they nodded in agreement.

Unlike the others, Roxas didn't seem to mind her behavior, in fact he looked like an excited child at a candy store. Hayner, Pence, and Olette always noticed that Roxas' mood always seemed to change when Marlene was around. He acted more carefree and childish in her company. He held out his arms with a big silly grin on his face and also braced for impact, when finally Marlene ran smack into him, causing them to fall back to the ground with a big exhausted "Oof!"

Shaking her head, Marlene sat up a bit and looked down at a now laughing Roxas. She blushed intensely when she noticed that the boy she had a crush on for five years was now underneath her.

"Ah! Um-! I'm so sorry! I didn't notice that I was already here! I was just-and then! But um…hi!" Awkwardly she got up and put her hand against the back of her head and giggled nervously. "I'm sorry…I just didn't want to get left behind, because I was looking so forward to this. I've never been to the beach before."

Glancing up at her from the ground, Roxas was smiling at her, his blonde bang framing his face. "It's alright, I didn't want to leave you behind either." He said in a gentle voice as Marlene stared down at him, the blush still gracing her cheeks.

"Ehem…" Huffed Hayner, bringing his hand up to his mouth to get their attention. "Now that we've had this joyful reunion…can we please go to the beach now?"

They group of friends spent the entire day playing and slashing around in the ocean, and they also enjoyed a few beach sports on the sand. This was a well deserved day of fun and relaxation. After all, they all had to start school in the next few days, they wanted to just once have some fun together…before their summer vacation came to an end.

Night soon came and they were still spending time at the beach. They had used their extra munny to purchase some sparklers, after buying sea salt ice cream and their tickets to the beach. Smiling and enjoying themselves, all of them were kneeling in a circle while holding their lit sparklers. Marlene was laughing along with Olette from a conversation they were having, when she noticed that Roxas was now away from the group. Looking around she spotted him kneeling over one of his sparklers a little distance away. Excusing herself from the conversation that her and Olette were having she walked over the Roxas. She stared at him for a moment, admiring his soft features and his bright blue eyes that she could still notice, even in the dark.

Feeling her presence Roxas looked up at her, a smile crossing his face when he saw her standing there. Smiling back down at him, Marlene tilts her head slightly to the side and speaks softly to him.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all." He responds in the same gentle tone she spoke to him in.

The kneeled facing each other for a while with their sparklers lit, not really saying a word to one another. Marlene was never uncomfortable around Roxas, but for some reason he seemed different tonight, like something was really on his mind. She wanted to break the silence but wasn't quite sure what to say. Before she could say anything however, Roxas was the one to break the awkward mood between them…with an even more awkward comment.

"Marlene would you forget about me if I disappeared?"

These words not only confused her but startled her as well. The thought of Roxas not being around, let alone disappearing never crossed her mind. However now that he said something, the thought scared her and made her want to cry.

"I could never forget you Roxas. I would remember you forever…but…I wouldn't be able to stay around here either. I would want to find you." She never that such a personal comment would pass her lips before, especially towards Roxas. They had been friends for a long time and she could tell Roxas anything except the way she felt for him.

A soft sigh passed Roxas' lips and he reached up to the top of his shirt, where an "X" shaped object hung from his zipper, and he detached it holding it out to Marlene. He stared straight into her eyes, and for a moment Marlene thought her heart was going to stop. Dazed and confused as anything, she reached forward and held out her hand, where he placed the silver charm.

"If we lose each other…let's promise to find one another." He whispered softly, smiling in what looked like to her a sad manner.

"Roxas-" she paused for a moment. Why was he saying all of this right now? What was going on to make him want to make promises and give her the charm he had since as long as she can remember? She couldn't question him though. She would follow him anywhere and do anything he asked her to. "It's a promise." Marlene clipped the charm to her zipper now, her heart was beating quickly. Smiling she looked up to look at Roxas.

"It's perfect-" Marlene stopped when Roxas was no longer in front of her. Stunned she stood up and glanced over the Hayner, Pence, and Olette. He wasn't with them and she started to look around franticly. Approaching them in a slight jog, Marlene leaned down.

"G-Guys! Where's Roxas? Did you see him leave to go anywhere?" She asked in a worried tone. "He started talking about disappearing and- promises!"

"Who's Roxas?"

This question was something Marlene was not expecting. She stared down and noticed it was Olette that said it. Marlene laughed a bit looking a nervous, but when she noticed that Olette was not laughing and her expression was not changing, her laughing stopped.

"What..? Olette what are you saying? Hayner! Tell Olette to stop playing like that!" Marlene exclaimed.

"Marlene what are you talking about? What's wrong? Too much sea salt ice cream?" The blonde boy joked, while holding a sparkler.

"Hayner…" Marlene's eyes widened.

"Marlene you probably got too much sun. Maybe we should go home so you can get some rest." Pence said in a concerned voice.

A tear fell down her soft face and she stepped back, shaking her head in refusal. She just couldn't believe it, they were being serious. Looking down at her shirt she gasped when she saw that the charm Roxas gave her just moments ago was still hanging from her zipper. Grabbing it with her hand she held it up and smiled nervously.

"S-see? It's his charm! Don't you remember?" Her voice was now shaking.

"Marlene, you've had that old thing since we were kids." Hayner sighed.

"N-no…" Tears were now running down her face and she clenched her fists. Roxas' voice echoed through her mind "If I disappeared would you forget me?" Shaking her head she whispered to herself. "I will never forget…NO!" She yelled and turned, running away from her three friends that seemed to have forgotten the most important person to her. "I will not forget Roxas!" She chanted in her mind, over and over again. "I will not forget our promise!"

"I will find you!" Her voice rings through the sky as she disappears out of view.

Riku groaned a bit as he turned his head. Why did his forehead feel wet? And what was that weird whispering noise he was hearing? The silver haired key blade wielder slowly opened his eyes and grunted a bit.

"Oh no, what do you do in a situation like this?" It was a girl's voice. "Do you say 'good morning'? Well, he's been out for a few days… What about 'up and at'em sleepy head'? Oh

that sounds just as stupid as the first one!"

Riku rubbed his head and looked at the wet cloth that was now in his hand and then back at the girl.

"Hey," he started and noticed that the girl almost jumped 2 feet into the air.

She turned around and laughed a little as she placed her hand behind her head.

"Oh! Good morning! Did you sleep well?" She asked and then turned her head. "Oh, I hope that was OK…"

She had long black hair that ended below her shoulders. Her eyes were a bright green and her bangs caressed the sides of her cheeks. She was wearing a black turtleneck shirt that showed her shoulders along with a dark green sweater that wrapped around her shoulders and covered most of her hands. Around her neck was a black stringed chocker with a star hanging from it. Her pants were black and mostly covered over her socks as she was sitting down on the ground. Her covered hand rested against her mouth as she contemplated and then turned her head again when Riku started to stand up.

"Wait! Don't get up," she started as she got up herself and held out her hands. "You've been asleep for almost 3 days, you need to rest!"

"I don't have time," he said as he thought about Sora and Kairi. "Where am I?"

"You're in Crystal Town," she started as she placed one of her hands to her side and looked away for a moment.

"There should be a door around here then," Riku started to think to himself and then looked down at the girl.

"You're welcome to stay here as long as you like," she said as she closed her eyes and smile. " I don't normally get a lot of company. Let alone anyone to talk to."

Riku just looked down at her, the same cheerful child-like smile that Sora always gave him was right there in front of him. He shook his head and placed his hand on a desk as he closed his eyes.

"Are you OK?" She asked her eyes opened to look at him.

"Fine," he said and then stopped as his stomach growled.

The girl smiled. "Why don't we get you something to eat? My name is Tohru by the way."

"Riku," he said with a nod.

"Right, Riku," she said as she hopped up and started to get some shoes.

Riku followed her as she opened the door and closed it behind him. The town didn't look that big, at least from the distance they were at. Tohru lived from what it looked a park and the trail looked like it was going to be a rather long walk.. They walked down a path that lead to the town, the town was actually very small, and Riku noticed the accessory shop along with an item shop. There were some kids around their age running around, which made Riku question what she said about 'I don't get a lot of company'.

The kids stopped playing as Tohru walked by and one of the kids shouted at Riku.

"Hey! You!"

Riku stopped to see the short blond waving to him. Riku walked over to him as Tohru started to look at some food from the cart.

"What?" Riku asked, his hands in his pockets.

"It's fair warning, stay away from that girl," said the blond, a few other kids started walk up behind him. "She's bad trouble."

"Why do you say that? She seems like a normal girl to me," Riku said as he looked over his shoulder.

"She got this crazy power," started a girl, she was at least 6 years old. "When she gets angry, this black monsters show up and start to attack people."

There was a scream and Riku turned around quickly, thinking it was Tohru but raised an eyebrow at the sight. Tohru was on the ground, her hands above her face as her hair dripped wet

from a water balloon. Some food was sprawled on the ground as she was sitting on her knees. A boy not to far from her had another balloon in his hand, and looked like he was ready to throw another balloon at her, but was frozen in fear. Around her, several Neo Shadows were starting to come up from the ground.

They bobbed their heads as they looked around and started to melt back onto the ground and headed towards the boy. He gave a cry of fright and started to run, dropping the balloons after him. Several more started to chase after him and Riku glared slightly. Even in a place like this, he had to fight heartless. His hand gripped the air, but in a flash his Soulblade appeared and he started to run at the heartless. With several easy thrusts and strokes, the heartless had all fallen and their hearts were released into the sky. He stood up straight and opened his eyes, it was easy as pie. Tohru was still on the ground, her hands were still covering her face, and Riku walked over to her with his key blade disappearing as fast as it had appeared.

"Sorry, you probably will want to stay away from me now like the others," she said with a small laugh, her eyes shut as she smiled at him with a small wiry smile. "I don't blame you really. Everyone's afraid of me."

"I'm not afraid," he said as he held out his hand and gave her a small smile.

She opened her eyes to look up at him, and saw his smile. She took his hand and was pulled up as she looked down to her wet clothes and sighed a little. She tried to wring out her hair as the two started to walk back towards her home. The kids stood there and watched as their figures grew smaller in the distance.

"This isn't good, he's not suppose to be here," said one of the kids.

"How DID he get here?" Asked another one.

"Don't know, but he's going to mess up a lot of things we've worked really hard on," said the blond.

"So, you don't know what those were?" Riku asked as they sat on a bench of the park, watching the sunset.

"Nope," Tohru said as she kicked her feet under the bench.

"Tohru," he started as he looked at her, his elbows rested against his knees as his hands were laced in front of him. "Do you know of any doors around here? Doors that you can't explain why it can't be open?"

Tohru thought about it and looked at him with a nod. "It's really weird, but no one has ever talked about anything but Crystal Town. I never thought about it before, but I have never left this town either.. There is this one door, near the end of town. No one goes near it, like they don't even see it."

"Can you take me there?" He asked quickly.

"Sure," she said with a nod. 'Now?"

"No, tomorrow will be good," he said as he closed his eyes.

She nodded her head as she brought her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs and closed her eyes. The sun was setting far into the horizon. The sky was starting to turn it's hues of purples and pinks. Oranges and reds were seen across the sky as the sun was hiding from them now. Stars were slowly making their way out to the darkness. The two had become quiet until Riku spoke.

"You know, it's really nice here," he said quietly.

"When the kids aren't throwing things, the place can be very nice," she said as she lost her smile.

"Do you know why they do that?" He asked, looking at her now.

She shook her head. "No, but I think it's because of those black things. Apparently I hurt someone before and that's why they're scared of me. I never meant to hurt anyone, let alone make anyone hate me. It's really lonely, but I know they're only scared. People are afraid of what they don't know, so I'll just have to try and let them know that I'm not a bad person."

"Even though it might take weeks, months, years maybe?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I can wait," she said as she looked back at him. "As long as I make one friend, I'll be happy."

"Well, you have one," he said as he gave her a small smile.

Tohru blinked her eyes and smiled back, a small blush now on her cheeks and tears started to fall and she gasped softly. She wiped her face quickly with her sweater's sleeve and turned away from him, hiccupping.

"I-I'm sorry," she choked out. "Don't know what came over me."

Riku just smiled as he watched her shoulder's shake from the crying. "It's ok."

She continued to cry silently as she tried to stop her tears, but they wouldn't.

"This is it?" Riku asked as Tohru nodded her head.

They had walked to the far side of town, and passed what looked like an area that was under construction. Warning signs and barriers were all over the place, but it didn't stop the two from getting over to their destination. Riku looked up at the door, it was like the one from Destiny Island, only instead of wood it was metal with no keyhole.

"It's been here as far as I can remember, no one gets close or even talks about it," Tohru said, as she stood behind him. "It's been like this for ages, like they started to work here and stopped."

Riku just continued to look at the door and held out his hand. His key blade once again appeared and he held it at the door. The dark light started to shine from the tip as it was aimed straight at the closed door and a keyhole was formed. When the light faded, Riku placed his hand to his side and looked at her with a small frown on his face.

"I know you're leaving," she said as she closed her eyes and smiled. "You don't have to say it."

"I won't be gone," Riku said as he placed his hand over his heart. "As long as you remember me here, I'll never leave. Friends are something that never leaves your heart no matter how far apart they are."

She nodded her head as she placed her hands behind her back and opened her eyes and looked at the door.

"Be careful?" She asked.

"I will," he said as he walked to the door, which opened on it's own.

He didn't bother to look back as the door shut by itself. Tohru felt the tears caressing her cheeks as she turned around and started to walk out of the alley they were in. She rubbed her eyes as she coughed a little. She stopped as she looked to see the kids of the town standing outside of the alley.

"You don't have to say anything, I'm leaving," she said as she started to make her way past them.

"It's past that now," said the blond boy from before. "We have to stop this now."

Tohru stopped to look at him.

"We'll have to start over," said another one of the kids, with brown hair.

"The darkness has to be applied in a stronger dose," said one of the girls now.

"W-What are you talking about?" Tohru asked as she took a step back.

Each one of the kids in front of her started to change their shapes into what looked like a black version of themselves and then merged into one large black shape. The 'eyes' of the shape opened to show gold eyes. The shadow was large, almost as big as an elephant which caused Tohru to step back again and fall onto the ground. It hunched over on it's legs, it's body letting off what looked like black steam as it stepped closer to her. Tohru's eyes were open wide in fright as she tried to get up, but felt the wall pressing against her back.

_What am I going to do?_ She thought in her head as she closed her eyes tightly.

_You have to look for the light in the darkness,_ said a new voice in her head. It sounded a little childish as she cracked open her eyes.

In front of her was a bright light and she stared at it with curiosity. Whatever it was, it was taking the shadow monster from getting close to her. She stood up slowly and her hand started to move to the light and she wrapped her hand around it tightly. She covered her face with her free hand as the light grew brighter and when it disappeared she moved her hand.

An epée rested in her hand. It was a long French fencing sword, and around the base of the sword was gold, with hearts all around it. Which would alternate going up and down all around the sword. At the very end was a key chain that resembled something that looked similar to a star. She blinked her eyes as she felt something strong radiating from the sword and looked back at the shadow. It looked like it was scared of her now. She took a deep breath as she stood up straight, one arm resting behind her back as the other held the sword in front of her. The shadow made a low growling nose as it started to make a move to her, darting from side to side. Tohru stood still and waited, waited for it to make it's move. When it finally did she pulled the sword up in front of her and slashed it quickly at the shadow. This time, the black shape made another sound, but this time of pain. The girl started to run at the shadow, sword to her side as she jumped up and a blinding light came from the sword and she landed on the ground. She lost her footing and rolled into the wall, and winced a little. She looked up at the shadow creature and noticed that there was a rather large slice missing from it's shoulder and a small heart started to rise out from it and shattered in the air.

Tohru blinked her eyes as she looked down to see that the sword had disappeared and looked back up at the monster who had faded into the sky just like the heart. Tohru stood up slowly and dusted off her clothes and looked around her.

"That was great," came a new voice and Tohru jumped to see a small cloaked figure with round ears standing behind her. "I'm a little surprised that your weapon isn't a key blade, I thought for sure you'd be one of the carriers!"

"You…" Tohru started as she knew it was the voice she heard in her head just a few minutes ago."

"Sh," the figure started, lifting a gloved hand to the area his mouth would have been at. "I can't talk long but I think you should know that it's not really safe for you here anymore."

"Who are you?" Tohru asked, sitting down on the ground.

"A friend," the figure said and held out his hand to point at the door. "You have to go through that door. This world was never suppose to exist, and you were never suppose to live here."

"But I've been here as long as I can remember," Tohru started a little.

"This place should be just a memory for you," it started. "Just trust me!"

Tohru nodded her head as she stood up and dusted off the seat of her pants. She turned to the door, the keyhole still visible and she looked back down at the cloaked figure.

"Just trust the light in the darkness," the small figure said with a nod. "That faith will guide you to where you need to go."

"I don't know who you are, but you're really nice," Tohru said with a smile. "Thank you."

"No problem!"

The girl made her way over to the door and turned around again, only to see that the figure was now gone. She blinked her large eyes and looked back at the door, her fear was starting to return to her again. The door started to open again, the bright light engulfing her as she gulped and walked through the light.

Tohru was now rather confused. She was in Crystal Town just a moment ago, but now she was on something that looked like a rather small planet. There were no buildings, but there looked like there was railroad tracks that went off into space. She had picked up a stick and threw it at the tracks, but it just went right through it and fell. This caused her to be very scared that maybe she had messed up wherever it was she was suppose to go. She sighed as she flopped down on the ground, her arms wrapped around her knees as she looked off to the side.

"That was stupid of me," she said to herself. "Just walking through that door like that… I'm sure Riku would never have done something stupid like that.. Who was that little guy anyways with the ears? Oh man, where am I suppose to go? Maybe this was just a joke, to sit there and get me away from those weird shadows and REALLY be by myself."

She stopped talking to herself when she heard a loud noise coming closer to where she was at. She looked up and saw a purple train in the distance, riding on the tracks to the small planet. She blinked her eyes as it pulled up to the planet and stopped, it's horn blaring as the door opened. Tohru stood up slowly as she looked at the purple train. It had a moon and star painted on it's side and she walked over to it slowly and placed her hand on the bar and stepped into it.

Marlene was sitting on the ground leaning against a wall in the Usual Spot, looking down at her lap as tears running down her cheeks. Her short flipped out hair was covering her face from view as she sobbed quietly to herself. She couldn't find Roxas anywhere, and she was stressed from hearing Olette, Pence, and Hayner talk like he had never existed.

Hayner had been hanging around her a lot lately even though he had no idea why she was so upset. He kept referring to her as his best friend. When Roxas was around Hayner called him his best friend. Marlene looked up around their hang out while continuing to think about the events that happened the past few days. Sighing to herself she raised her left hand up to her face and wiped at her blue eyes.

"I can't give up now…" she whispered softly, pushing off the ground with her hands and standing on her feet, brushing her white and red pants off.

"Give up on what?" She heard a familiar voice come from the entrance to the Usual Spot. Looking up she saw Hayner standing there with his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. Marlene looked away trying to fix her face slightly so it didn't look like she was just crying. She forced herself to giggle and act happy and looked back up at Hayner, her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

"Oh you know! On school and all! It's the beginning of the year and I'm already flaking out!" Giggled Marlene, who opened her eyes which still looked like she had been crying.

Hayner uncrossed his arms and clenched his fists shaking his head. He walked forward to stand right in front of her and looked down at her. The young 15 year old girl looked up and stared at him, a confused look on her face. Her male friend ran his right hand through his spiky blond hair and let out a deep sigh.

"That's not it…it's this Roxas guy you keep going on about." He said in a frustrated tone.

"W-well…" She looked down, her forced smile disappearing from her face and she began to twiddle her thumbs. "It's just frustrating…I know he existed and you guys keep saying he isn't real…we were all friends…we basically grew up together. He was your best friend Hayner-"

"No Marlene! YOU are my best friend. We grew up together but there was no Roxas!" He grabbed her shoulders as if he was trying to reach through to the real her trapped inside. "Marlene I'm so worried about you. I keep thinking you're going to do something crazy to try and find this "Roxas" guy even though he's not real."

She was now looking down to the charm that was attached to her zipper and the tears started to come again. Glancing up at Hayner she didn't seem to care if he saw her crying anymore. Seeing her tear soaked face caused his eyes to widen and his grip on her shoulders tightened slightly. He rarely saw her cry and every time he did it always made his chest tighten and he would never know what to do. This time however seemed different, something seemed to make him act without thinking. He continued to hold onto Marlene's shouldered and he looked into her sad blue eyes with his own. She stared up at him not knowing what he was really doing until he started to lean towards her, his eyes beginning to narrow. Marlene froze as she watched the handsome boy get closer and closer to connecting his lips with hers.

_Would you forget me if I disappeared?_ These words echoed through her head and she gasped lightly. Trying to step back from him, she started to get nervous when she could feel the heat coming from his lips.

"NO!" She finally yelled, pushing Hayner with all her strength away from her. She looked up at his shocked face and frowned sadly at him. "I'm…I'm sorry."

Glancing down she dashed out to the alley, not looking back. Hayner was looking at the ground, and he clenched his fist, swinging it back to hit the wall.

"Dang it.." He said looking back to see Marlene running down the alley. "I've really screwed up this time." Hayner approached the entrance and leaned against the wall staring off after her and sighing to himself. "I wish I could help…"

Marlene ran through the alley continuing to look down with a red blush across her face. Hayner tried to kiss her, she couldn't believe it. She had no idea that he felt that way about her, but then again she was usually very oblivious about other people's feelings. Running at a steady place her feet somehow lead her to the Market Place and straight to the entrance of the Mysterious Forest. She stopped when she noticed that she had ran there and looked up, staring at the dark entrance. A little confused as the how she ended up there she just continued to stare then all of a sudden her heart tightened in her chest.

_Marlene!_ Her bright blue eyes widened as she heard a familiar voice in her head. Bringing her hand up to clench the "X" shaped charm hanging from her zipper she gasped lightly and closed her eyes.

"Roxas…" Without even thinking about it she stepped forward past the entrance of the Mysterious Forest and started to walk at a steady pace.

The Market Place disappeared out of view as the trees around her seemed to engulf her in the darkness. Looking around, this place was actually had a strange eerie beauty to it. She still heard Roxas' voice echoing in her head and her heartbeat quickened. The forest opened up ahead of her to reveal the mansion that her and her friends always thought was haunted. A gasp escaped her mouth when she saw what she assumed to be a girl in a white dress, standing in the window on the second floor.

Before she had a chance to approach the building she saw a misty light rise from the ground. This caused her to step back but she couldn't seem to run away. What appeared from the mist was a strange looking creature. It was thin and swayed from side to side, its skin was sliver and it had a marking on its body that Marlene had never seen before. Though she didn't run she felt that she had to defend herself, for the presence of danger was evident. She looked to the side of her on the ground and saw a quite pitiful looking stick, but she figured it was her only means of defense so she dived for it.

Reaching the stick she stood up quickly, however she was not quick enough, for the creature slid towards her and hit her causing her to fly back with a big thud as she hit the ground. Wincing, she attempted to pick herself up. The silver being snaked towards her, her heart pounding. What was going on? As the creature became ever closer Marlene's fear began to take over and she found herself frozen. Closing her eyes when she was on the verge of being attacked she again heard that voice in her head.

_Marlene!_ She gasped and opened her eyes. Just when she was about to get struck she rolled out of the way, getting to her feet in one swift jump. She held the stick she had with both her hands and stared directly at the silver enemy in front of her. After missing her it didn't give up and went to attack her again. Dodging it by jumping to the side she swung at it with the stick, striking it's back causing it to stumble forward.

"What the heck am I supposed to do? What is this thing!" She was so scared, but hearing Roxas call her name made her want to fight. "I won't give up…I refuse." Leaping forward she brought her weapon down to beat the creature on the back. She got many hits in afterwards but none of them seemed to phase it. Marlene was now huffing from all the work she was doing and was getting quite frustrated. "What should…huff I do…?" Looking up she spotted a short black hooded figure with large round ears standing in front of her. She couldn't see his face through the shadow of the hood but she heard his kind high pitched clearly.

"Don't give up." He spoke to her quickly.

"Wha-? Who are you?" She asked in a exhausted hushed voice.

"There's someone you have to meet." He replied.

For a split second the creature that had been attacking her charged at her once more, earning a shocked and frantic reaction from Marlene. She swung at it and it dodged her advances, backing up to avoid her. Looking behind her shoulder to look at the hooded figure once more she saw that he had disappeared. Thinking about what he said to her she looked back at the being slithering in front of her and she sighed deeply.

"He's right. I have to keep fighting. I will find Roxas." With these words the stick in her hands began to glow brightly. Her eyes widened and she stared in awe as the stick began to transform into a completely other item. The part she was holding, turned into a red handle and from it grew the base of the weapon which was a dark blue with a bright green vine wrapping up it. At the end was three stars sticking out of the side that were attached to each other and attacked at the end was a moon with another star. It looked almost similar to a key in a strange way. At the top of the weapon was a little charm with what looked like the head of the person that she just saw.

This new weapon made her enemy become even more fierce than it already was and it attacked her. She dodged quickly to the side and with one swift motion she spun around and struck the creature, and finally it appeared that she defeated it. It disappeared in a burst and she fell to her knees in an exhausted state. Sweat dripped down the side of her face and she looked at the ground, her body was aching all over.

She used what was left of her strength to lift up the key blade in her hand and she examined it. It was really beautiful, however when she was taking a closer look it disappeared with a glow. Her mouth curved down into a frown and she sighed.

"Man…where did it go?" Standing up she wobbled a little, trying to keep her balance. "What did he mean when he said there was someone I had to meet?" She asked herself and she looked up towards the mansion. "I feel like Roxas lead me here…but now I feel like I have somewhere else I need to go. Like…I've done what I was suppose to do here." The window that had the girl standing in it was empty now and she looked back towards the forest. "I wonder who I'm about to meet."

Tohru had just stepped off the train and blinked her eyes as the sunlight invaded her sight. She squinted and turned her head to look away. She continuously blinked her eyes, to try and get the purple and black dots to fade and shook her head a little as she looked around.

A small brick wall followed along side of the train station as she walked over there to see over the distance. Along the sea line were a bunch of houses. She smiled slightly as she leaned against the wall, the wind gently blowing her hair behind her as she closed her eyes.

"What a beautiful smell," she said to herself.

She looked at the sky, it looked like it was going to set in a couple of hours. Tohru tried to remember why she was brought to this world, but she wasn't too sure herself. She sighed as she hung her head in defeat. Here she was, a brand new world, and a new adventure, but she had no IDEA what to do.

"I should have asked that little black cloaked mouse for help before I left," she said as she continued to watch over the sky.

Seagulls had started to make their way through the sky and she stood back up and ran a hand through her hair.

"Well, no use just standing here, might as well-" she started and turned around to come face to face with a silver creature just slinking left to right behind her.

"AHHHH!" She shouted as she stumbled back against the wall and placed her hand against the top as she stared up at the creature.

The upside down heart emblem on its forehead caught Tohru's attention as she stared at it. She stood up slowly as it started to slink all around her. She gulped a little and her left hand flinched a little as she hoped that whatever weapon she had called before would come back to her aid, but it didn't. After the one silver snake started to move, another appeared and then another in it's place. She was finally surrounded as she was pressed harshly against the wall.

She had closed her eyes, waiting for whatever blow it was that was going to hit her. She felt as if her heart had stopped, and slowly cracked open an eye. The creature was now gone, and she just blinked her eyes as three figures were now standing in front of her.

One of them, was a boy, about the same age as herself. He had spiky brown hair, and wore a red shirt and pants that looked too tight for his body. In his hand was a blade, that was the shape of a key. Along side him, was a small duck wearing a blue shirt and hat that attacked another one of the other creatures. A tall dog like man had jumped on top of another creature, using his shield to attack. Tohru just stood there, and blinked her eyes as she watched him. The monsters that were about to attack her, they were gone in almost a moment.

"Are you OK?" The brunette asked, the key blade disappeared away from his hand.

"Yeah," she asked, slightly dumbstruck by how quickly he was able to take care of this.

Before he could say something to him again, there was a loud 'choo choo' and he just stood there for a moment.

"Ah! I'm going to miss it," he said as he turned to his two companions. "Come on, let's go!"

Marlene huffed as she ran through Station Heights, her honey brown hair moving with the wind as it passed over her. She was thinking about how she had to meet her friends to see them off. They were going to the Beach again and she promised to see them before they left. Marlene had refused to go, it was just too painful for her to go back to the place where she last saw Roxas. She reached the station entrance and saw a young girl around her age standing awe struck. She stopped and looked her over, her chest rising and falling as she panted heavily from running so fast.

She was a bit curious as to why she looked so shocked, and also where she was from. Marlene had never seen this girl before and she had known everyone in town. Approaching, she looked at her with her wide eyes and tilted her head to the side a bit.

"Are you okay..? Do you need some help..?" She asked softly, a hint of concern in her voice.

"Fine…Thank you," Tohru started to say and then looked over the other girl's shoulder to see the brunette standing there with a group of other people that looked like they were talking.

"Marlene!" Olette shouted as she looked at the honey brunette girl.

Marlene turned her head, to see her friend's standing there with the other brunette and she looked back at the girl.

"Come on," Marlene smiled as she waved her hand to follow her.

Tohru nodded her head, giving her a smile as well and followed Marlene over to the group. The closer they got, Marlene thought she saw a glimpse of Roxas standing where the brunette was.

"R-Roxas…?" She stared as she stopped.

Tohru, almost bumped into the girl in front of her and looked at the brunette as well.

"Roxas?" Pence asked.

"When are you going to stop with this 'Roxas Roxas Roxas'," Hayner said, a little annoyed.

"Roxas?" The brunette boy asked.

"Oh, Marlene's imaginary friend," Olette smiled. "Marlene, this is Sora, and his friends Donald and Goofy."

Sora just smiled at her. "Hi Marlene."

Marlene just continued to stand there, she could have sworn she saw a glimpse of Roxas standing right next to Sora.

There was another noise of a train and Sora turned to the others again. "Thanks again for everything."

"We'll see each other again right?" Pence asked.

Sora smiled and nodded his head. He waved as the three of them walked up the stairs and they followed.

Tohru stood next to Marlene, blinking her large eyes.

"Um… Marlene is it?" She asked. "Are you alright?"

Marlene just watched and started to run after the group. Tohru was just standing there by herself and then jumped a little.

"Hey! Wait for me!" She shouted.

She ran after the girl again, and they both stopped outside of the purple train. Tohru recognized it as the one that she rode on to get to this place. Marlene was panting slightly as she looked around and also saw the train.

She felt her breath caught in her throat, as on the train that Sora had climbed on, Roxas was standing there next to him. He was hitting the window of the train, as if trying to yell at her for something.

"Roxas," Marlene breathed out as she started to run towards the train. "ROXAS!"

She felt a rather sharp tug on her arm as she turned to see Hayner glaring at her slightly.

"It's not Roxas, stop thinking that!" He said harshly.

Tohru watched as the girl tried to struggle her way out of the spiky blonde's grasp. She had started to run towards the purple train and grabbed a hold of the caboose's railing.

"Let go of me Hayner!" Marlene started to growl out.

There was another sound coming from the train and started to move. Marlene curled her hand into a fist as she raised it back and threw it at Hayner. She felt her friend's face against her hand and he let out a yell of pain before pulling back. Marlene started to pull away, sudden guilt from hitting her friend washed over her, but then heard the train again and started to run. She saw Tohru standing there, her hand out to grab Marlene's.

"Come on!" Tohru shouted. "You wanted to see him, right?"

Marlene, almost tripped on the ground, reached out and grabbed Tohru's hand and the both pulled Marlene up to the platform that Tohru was at. Tohru fell back against the railing, breathing hard as she looked at Marlene and grinned. Marlene looked back at her, and smiled as well.

The two stood up slowly and looked to see the three friends standing there. Olette had bent over to help Hayner, as Pence was waving to them while yelling, "Be careful!"

After catching their breath, they stepped through the door of the train. Inside was the same as when Tohru was on it. Marlene walked to the end of the room and tried to open the other door. She pulled it, but it didn't open and glared slightly at the door. She was this close to Roxas, she wasn't going to quit yet. She placed her foot against the side of the door and tried pulling it again. Tohru just stood there, watching her and plopped down on the seat, crossing her arms in her lap.

"I don't think it's going to open," Tohru smiled.

"I'm not giving up!" Marlene said as she stopped, and panted for a moment and then kicked the door. "OPEN!"

Tohru laughed a little in her hand. "It's locked from the other side, the door should open soon. Maybe we should just wait and rest a bit? That was kind of a rush."

Marlene sighed a bit and then walked over to the seat across from Tohru and sat down as well.

"I'm Marlene," she said with a small smile.

Tohru smiled back. "I heard, I'm Tohru."

The two were quiet for a moment, and then Tohru looked out the window and Marlene did the same. The sky was now blue and purple and stars sparkled against the sky. A comet passed through the sky and Marlene started to think about how to get through the door that was blocking her from the other room.

"So who's Roxas?" Tohru asked, breaking the silence and Marlene's thoughts.

Marlene shook her head a bit and looked up at Tohru. "What?"

"Roxas?" Tohru asked, still smiling a bit.

"Oh, he's," Marlene blushed a bit. " He's someone really important to me… Someone that I thought I lost, but he's just in the car next to us."

Tohru just listened to Marlene. Marlene talked about how they would eat sea salt ice cream together, and sit on the top of the clock tower while everyone else was gone to watch the sunset.

"And we went to the beach," she said, remembering the day happily. "We all had so much fun. Eating and playing games, and then when night fell, we played with fireworks-"

She had stopped talking, remembering Roxas's words. 'Would you forget me if I disappeared?'

Tohru just watched her and smiled a bit. "But, if he's in the cart next to us, then that's great!"

Marlene just smiled and nodded her head.

"I'm looking for someone too," Tohru said, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. "Granted, I haven't known him as long as you known Roxas, but…

he's still very important to me."

Marlene gave her a grin and a sly look. "Love at first site?"

"W-What?" Tohru asked, blinked a bit as she blushed a little as well. "N-No, he's… he's my only friend… I'm worried.."

Marlene just smiled again and laughed a little. Tohru blinked her eyes, the blush still on her cheeks as she started to laugh as well.

"Hey, Marlene," Tohru asked, placing her feet back onto the floor. "Let's be friends."

Marlene looked at her and grinned slightly. "OK, let's shake on it!"

Marlene held out her hand, and Tohru blinked as she grinned as well as she took the hand into her's and they both sat there for a moment, before the train slammed to a stop, knocking

them both onto the floor.

"Ow," Marlene started as she picked herself up from the ground.

"Man," Tohru said as she also got up and the door dinged open.

They both looked at each other for a moment and quickly ran out of the train. The area they were at now, was much different the Twilight Town, and different from where Tohru was before. They were standing on a small planet, they just had to take about a 15 minute walk around the whole planet it was so small. Bushes lined along side of a house that was rather pointy with several steps leading up to it.

"Wow," Tohru started.

"Did you see Roxas?" Marlene asked as she looked around.

"I think we're the only ones here…" Tohru started.

Marlene looked inside the other part of the cab, but saw no one there. Not even Sora and his companions were in there.

She sighed a little. "I was so close.."

"But, you can't give up now," Tohru smiled slightly, repeating with the light brunette said not to long ago.

Marlene looked back at her and smiled a little and nodded. "Right."

The two started to make their way to the pointy house and looked up at it.

"You knock first," Marlene said slightly.

"Not me, you ," Tohru said back.

"No way," Marlene started. "What if it's some crazy old witch that's making cookies and needs girls for her last ingredient?"

Tohru just stared at her for a moment, a slightly confused look on her face. "Uh, yeah…"

She reached up and before the raven haired girl could even knock, the door opened by itself. The two huddled a little together as they walked into the room. It was rather big on the inside, which was strange for how small it looked on the outside. Against the wall was another set of stairs and they both looked at each other.

"Go together?" Marlene asked.

"Y-Yeah.." Tohru started, her teeth chattering.

The two both started to make their way up the staircase and Marlene stopped, pulling Tohru to an abrupt halt as well. Several pairs of glowing yellow eyes peered up at them from the floor, the spots on the floor started to form little creatures and wobbled back and forth.

"Um.. What are those?" Marlene whispered.

"No idea, but I don't think they're friendly," Tohru started.

In a flash, the star key blade that Marlene had used before appeared in her hand. She gripped it slightly and then blinked her eyes before looking down at the weapon and wondered when it had appeared in her hand.

"Oh well," Marlene started as she ran towards the heartless with the key blade pulled back.

Tohru just blinked her eyes as she pointed slightly. "Hey.. Sora had something like that too.. Only without the stars…"

Marlene had started to throw the key blade down against some of the heartless, causing them to disappear in a small bit of smoke and a heart flew up in the sky. Several more had started to appear each time she had destroyed more.

"What are these things!" Marlene shouted as she continued to swipe her key blade across the ground.

Tohru stood there, her fist clenched. She had to help Marlene somehow, she felt a little worthless.

_No,_ Tohru started to think to herself. _This is not the time to feel pathetic. I got to help Marlene!_

Even without a weapon, Tohru started to charge into the battle. Her hands flying beside her, hoping to hit whatever was to come near her. She was tripped by one of the shadows and landed face first onto the staircase. She gritted a little as she tried to push herself up.

"Tohru!" Marlene shouted as she tried to make her way over to the other girl.

Tohru's hand clenched as she heard something click against the ground. When she looked at her hand, the epée had returned to her hand. She smiled a bit before standing up and thrusting it at heartless that jumped at her. Marlene stood there for a moment and pointed, about to say something herself but then stopped as the heartless continued to move around them.

"Come on, let's take these things out," Marlene said with a laugh before attacking another heartless in a full swing.

Tohru nodded her head as she helped the fight against the heartless. When the battle had ended, both girls stood there breathing and panting heavily. Marlene was leaning against the key blade she had in her hands, her hair fell into her face.

"That… was exhausting.." She started.

"Yeah," was all the other said as she plopped herself back onto the stairs.

Marlene looked up the stairs, and smirked slightly. "Looks like we only got a little bit longer to go. Then we can ask some questions about what those things are… And where Roxas went."

Tohru looked up at her now and just smiled, nodding her head.

The two started to make their way up to the door and when it opened, they were meet by a circular room. Walking into the room, there was only another door on the other side and Tohru sighed to herself.

"I knew this wasn't going to be easy," she said as she watched Marlene go to open the door.

The moment she touched the door, the silver snake heartless had appeared out of the ground once more. Each one of them had started to walk closer to them, each one slinking back and forth.

"Not again," Marlene said as she held the key blade in her hands.

"I take it you fought against them before?" Tohru asked, grasping her own weapon.

"Yeah… with a stick," Marlene said with a slightly goofy grin.

Tohru tried to fight back her laughter.

Marlene attacked first again, striking against the neck of the nobody, knocking it back against the ground. She then jumped into the air, slamming the key blade down against the creature. The ball of light appeared and then the creature had disappeared. Tohru had pulled her own weapon out and thrust it out towards the nobody. It easily missed the weapon, but then she fell to the ground and twirled it around her, knocking it onto the ground as well, but before it actually landed, Marlene had pulled her key blade out and acted like it was a bat and struck the nobody with it.

"Batter up!" She shouted as she hit the nobody and it hit the wall.

The creatures were gone now, and they both looked at each other as Marlene gave her a thumbs up. Tohru blinked and did the same as the two quickly left the room before more of those monsters appeared.

As they traveled up the stairs, more of the black heartless continued to attack them. It felt like it was taking forever to even reach the top of the stairs. They had went through several doors, and meet up with more heartless and nobodies.

"THIS IS GETTING ANNOYING!" Marlene shouted as the two had started to run away from the heartless.

Tohru was right behind her as she tried to keep up. "They just won't stop coming!"

They found another door at the top and Marlene threw it open as Tohru jumped through and Marlene slammed the door shut before anything else could come through. They both leaned against the door, panting and Tohru had her head back.

"Do you think the door can stand against all those?" She asked, breathing hard.

"Who knows," Marlene panted as well.

"Who are you?" Asked a new voice and both the girls looked up, still not moving from the ground.

Yin Sid, dressed in his normal blue cloak, towered over the two. A star magician hat rested against his head as his glare pierced through the girls.

"Well," Tohru and Marlene both started to say and then there was a loud noise of something outside the door.

"Heartless," he said as he turned around and sat back down at his large chair.

"Hey," Marlene started as she stood up slowly. "Have you seen a guy… about same age as me.. Short blond hair, kinda spiky?"

"Blond hair? Spiky?" He hummed, not looking up from his papers. "Sora was here not to long ago."

"He was the guy you saw with Roxas, right?" Tohru asked, now standing up as well.

"Where is he!" Marlene demanded. "I keep seeing Roxas with Sora, so he has to know where Roxas is!"

"He's left, just a moment ago," Yin Sid said as he still didn't look up at either one of them.

"Where'd he go!" Marlene demanded, slamming her hands against the table.

This caused the wizard to look up at her, with a slight glare. "To another world."

"Another world?" Tohru asked.

"Yes, the darkness is returning, and he must fight against it," the old man said as he started to look back at his papers.

"How can we get there?" Marlene said, her voice starting to get aggravated.

"Good questions," Yin Sid said as he didn't bother to look up again and then looked at Tohru this time. "You."

Tohru looked around her, and blinked her eyes as she pointed to herself. "Me?"

"Her?" Marlene asked, blinking her eyes again.

"You have powers of darkness, do you not?" He asked.

"Uh… I don't know," Tohru said slightly.

"Well, you either do or not don't," he said as he looked at Marlene this time.

"Well… Maybe, I guess.." Tohru said, scratching the tip of her nose.

"With those powers, you might be able to help Sora, and might be able to catch up to him to ask him about your… friend," he said as he still continued to stare at Marlene.

The light brunette started to fidget under the wizard's stare. He then looked back at the book and picked it up and started to flip through it.

"I have read that each world is connected by a door. Sora at this moment is unlocking all the doors that he locked on his previous journey. He should be on his way to Transverse Town

right now, I'm sure if you can find the door to this world, you'll be able to catch up to him," he said as he closed the book and placed it back on the table again.

"Alright, let's do it," Marlene said pumped as she looked at Tohru. "Let's go find the door!"

"Uh.. OK," Tohru said, slightly confused.

Marlene, forgetting about the heartless walked to the door and opened it. Tohru was about to stop her, but it was too late. The door was flung open, but all the heartless and nobodies that they were running from before were gone. Marlene started to run down the stairs, the momentum causing her to run faster. Tohru just stood there for a minute before looking back at Yin Sid and waved her hand slightly.

"Thank you! Bye!" She said as she started to run down the stairs as well. "Marlene!"

Reaching the ground floor first, Marlene opened the door and heard a loud shout. She turned her head to see that Tohru couldn't stop and tripped on the last stair and fell out the door. Tohru rolled a bit and laid there for a moment before shaking her head before sitting up.

"Ow…" She rubbed the back of her head before Marlene hopped down the stairs and held out her hand.

"Sorry," Marlene said with a grin.

Tohru just took the head and was pulled up and landed on her feet.

"So, all we have to do is find the door thing that the old man said and then we'll be able to find the way to that… What-ever Town that Sora's at right?" Marlene said.

The two had started searching for the door that Yin Sid had talked to them about. Both had started to look through the bushes and everything else that was in their way, but neither one could find that door. Tohru plopped down on the ground, breathing heavily. How long had they been looking? It felt like hours at a time, but she looked to see Marlene had not given up. Tohru smiled a bit, wishing she had the same amount of energy that Marlene had.

"AUGH I CAN'T FIND IT!" She shouted, grabbing her head and tilting it back.

The light brunette fell down onto the ground, her arm covering up her eyes.

"Ugh, this is annoying," she started as she moved her arm slowly and then blinked.

Sitting up quickly, she was staring up above Tohru's head. The other girl just blinked as she watched as Marlene stood up and quickly started to run over to her.

"M-Marlene?" Tohru started, but quickly ducked as Marlene tackled the tree that she was resting under.

"It's up here! I saw it!" She started.

Tohru just blinked as she watched the girl shimmy up the tree.

"Come on Tohru! It's up here!"

Tohru raised an eyebrow now as she slowly started to follow Marlene up the tree. Marlene had started to work her way up the tree quickly and stopped when she got near the top. Breathing heavily, a look of satisfactory was resting upon her face. Tohru's head popped up through the branches, blinking her eyes once more as she smiled happily as well. There on the top of three was a keyhole. Marlene's hand went to her side and the key blade once again emerged. She pulled it back and the tip started to glow as she twisted it back around and threw it into the keyhole. There was a loud click as if something was opening and a bright light started to shine through the hole. Marlene and Tohru both covered their eyes as the light engulfed them.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One

Marlene woke up yawning a bit as she rubbed the back of her head. She blinked her eyes, getting some of the sleep out and then heard another yawn behind her. She turned to see Tohru rubbing her eyes and yawning a bit too.

"Where are we?" Tohru asked, her voice a little groggy from sleep.

"No idea," Marlene started.

They were in a large room, with a book pedestal sitting at one of the far ends and a computer, which was making noises as it's lights blinked. A circular platform was near the two beds and Tohru stood out of the bed slowly.

"Eh.. This isn't Yin Sid's place anymore…" She started.

"Do you think we're at Transverse Town?" Marlene asked. "Or… Do you think we got transferred to some other place? Oh no! What if this is like.. Some kind of alternate dimension that has monsters that eat people?!"

Tohru stared at her for a moment, and smiled a bit. "I think we're fine… If they wanted to eat us, they would have done it a long time ago."

"That's what they WANT you think!" Marlene said, shaking a finger.

Tohru laughed a bit and then the two stopped as the door opened an old man in blue with a long white beard stepped through. Behind him were two girls. One with long light brown hair with a pink outfit and a shorter girl with dark brown hair and a green tube top and tan pants.

"Oh, it looks like our guests have awake," said the girl in pink.

"Yeah, Sora and them just found you guys in the middle of the park and they brought you guys here," said the ninja like girl.

"Uh… thanks," Tohru said with a small bow.

"Sora's here?" Marlene asked.

"Oh yes, but he's with Leon right now," said the old man. "I'm Merlin by the way. This is Yuffie and Aeris."

"I'm Marlene, this is Tohru. We came here looking for Sora," Marlene introduced.

"Well, you can just wait here, he'll be back soon," Merlin said.

"Thank you," Tohru said with a smile.

It wasn't long before the door opened once more and a tall brunette with a scar across his face and the familiar and smaller brunette walked in afterwards. Sora turned his head and saw the two girls, Goofy and Donald rammed into Sora right as he stopped.

"Hey! You're the two girls I meet back at Twilight Town, how'd you guys get here?" He asked, running over to them and smiled happily.

"…Um.. We shimmied up a tree," Tohru said with a small blush and a laugh.

He blinked his eyes as he looked over at her, while Donald and Goofy just both looked at each other.

"Have you seen Roxas?" Marlene asked quickly, looking at Sora.

"Huh? Roxas?" He started and shook his head.

Marlene's eyes widened a bit as she felt her hands tremble. "But.. I saw him, in the car with you.. When you were leaving Station Heights. He was hitting the window… He was right there with you"  
"That was Sora, waving to your friends," Donald said, crossing up.

"Sorry," Sora said as he shook his head. "But, if I ever run into him… I'll tell him you're looking for him"  
Marlene's eyes started to brim with unshed tears. She KNEW she saw Roxas standing at the window. Tohru looked at Marlene, she felt so bad as she tried to change the subject.

"Um.. Then, how about Riku?" She asked.

"You know Riku?!" Sora shouted as he grabbed her hand. "Where is he? Do you know where he's at? How is he?!"

Tohru just blinked her eyes, as her hand was grabbed and saw how quickly Sora reacted.

"I don't know where he's at… I meet him back in my home town, and he helped me out… then he had to leave, he didn't tell me anything," Tohru said.

The same look of pain that was in Marlene's eyes, was now in Sora's.

"But, you know him?" Tohru asked softly.

"He's my best friend," Sora smiled. "I'm looking for him too. Hey, why don't you guys come with us? Maybe if we stick together we can find who we're looking for?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Marlene said, forcing a smile. "Maybe we'll see Roxas on our adventure."

Tohru smiled as she nodded to Marlene. Before anyone could say anything, the machine started to give out a loud alarming noise.

"We have trouble," the dark brunette said as he hurried out the door. "Heartless."

Sora and the other's just nodded as they hurried outside of the small home. Marlene looked at Tohru and she nodded her head and the two ran out the door.

"Hey you can't go out there! It's dangerous!" Yuffie started. "For you maybe," Tohru said with a smile as she slammed the door shut.

Not even a few feet outside of the home, heartless had started to raise out of the ground and started to bounce back and forth. Marlene's key blade appeared in her hand and Tohru's epée appeared in her own hand. They both looked up to see something large and blue standing in front of them. Marlene pulled up her key blade and brought it down in front of her. The Large Body just stood there as the key blade bounced of it's stomach. It slapped it's stomach in a mocking manner and Marlene fell back a little, slightly confused.

"It didn't work!" Marlene started as she got back into her fighting position.

She ran towards it again and jumped into the air, her face full of anger as she brought the key blade down on top of the Large Body's head. This time, it fell back a little as she stood on the ground.

"Aim fer the head!" Marlene said with a snap.

Tohru brought up her own weapon, but noticed that other heartless had started to appear around the Large Body and the two girls. They had a weird set of wings on their back, giving them an airplane look. The Air Pirates had started to fly around Tohru as she held up her weapon and placed her hand behind her back. The small key chain on her weapon started to sway in the air and one of them flew towards her. She stepped off to the side and brought the weapon down quickly on the heartless's back. Marlene had jumped behind the Large Body and pulled the key blade into a quick thrust, causing it disappear. One of the Air Pirates had flown towards her, after missing Tohru and she pulled the key blade up once more, having it knock right into the weapon by itself. Tohru once more had pulled her own weapon back and threw it towards the last of the Air Pirates, causing it to disappear. Each one that they destroyed, a small heart flew out of the black smoke and disappeared into the air. Marlene did a small victory dance and held up her hands, giving Tohru a 'V'.

"That was great! I knew we would do awesome!" She said, clenching her fists, the key blade in her hand.

"Ne, Marlene," Tohru started, as she looked at her friend from over her shoulder. "I've been meaning to ask you.. What is that in your hand? I mean… I've never seen anything like it before."

"This? I dunno," Marlene said as held out the key blade. "But.. I have a feeling that it's important."

"What's it's name?" Tohru asked, blinking her eyes.

"Starlit Forest," Marlene said with a smile, as she closed her eyes. "What about yours?"

The long haired girl looked down at her epée. "You know, I think it's Binding Soul."

"Hey! Are you alright?" Sora's voice filled the air.

They both turned to see Sora running towards them. He stopped as he saw the two weapons sitting in the girl's hands. First he saw the epée, but then saw the key blade.

"You have a key blade!" He started pointing.

"Impossible," Donald said as he crossed his arms. "Only you and Riku have a key blade."

"It's not impossible," Tohru said in a small pout. "If it's impossible then why does Marlene have one?"

"Right!" Marlene said, mocking Donald by crossing her arms.

"Aw, why does it matter Donald?" Goofy asked, rubbing the back of his head. "She has one, which means she's chosen."

"Chosen?" Marlene asked. "Chosen for what?"

"To save the worlds," Sora smiled. "An even more reason for you guys to come with us."

Marlene saw his smile and felt her cheeks starting to warm. Something about his smile reminded her so much of Roxas. Her key blade disappeared as she placed her hands against her cheeks and quickly turned around. Tohru blinked at her companion's friend and rubbed the back of her head slightly while Sora just blinked his eyes again.

"Was it something I said?" He asked.

"Maybe?" Tohru said back.

"We should get going though," Sora said again with his smile.

"Sora," Donald started, pulling on the dark brunette's jacket. "There isn't any room on the gummi ship."

He just blinked down at the duck. "What are you talking about? There's plenty of room."

Donald just glared at him. "There isn't ENOUGH room."

"We won't take up that much room," Tohru said with a smile.

"Exactly," Marlene said as she patted Donald's head. "Looks like you're stuck with us."

"The more the merrier," Goofy smiled.

"Great! Let's get going!" Sora said, clenching his fist and smiling happily.

"So this is a gummi ship?" Marlene asked, looking at the red and yellow blocked ship.

"If you don't like it you don't have to ride in it," Donald said rudely.

Tohru placed a hand next to her cheek and blinked her eyes. "I think it's cute. It looks like a little child's toy."

"All aboard," Goofy said as the door opened and they all made their way in.

Marlene was about to walk in, but accidentally bumped into Sora. He blinked his blue eyes down to her, and gave her a small smile.

"Sorry about that, go ahead," he said.

Marlene felt her cheeks start to flare again as she quickly made her way up to the ship and plopped herself down next to Tohru in the chair. Tohru blinked her eyes at Marlene, seeing her friend cover her face with her hands once again.

"Marlene, are you OK? Your face is all red… Do you have a fever?" Tohru asked.

"I'm fine," Marlene said, lowering her hands and biting her thumb nail as she looked at the brown head that was visible over the seat.

"Engine ready?" Sora asked.

"Check."

"Thrusters ready?"

"Check."

"Seat belts?"

"Check."

The gummi ship started to raise up into the air. Tohru's hand gripped the arm rests, so her knuckles were turning white. Marlene was staring outside the window happily. This was so much better then trying to climb the tree. She watched as the land started to get farther and farther below them. Clouds started to form over the buildings and the people were starting to look like ants. Her hands were pressed against the windows as she now started to watch as stars appeared in the sky.

"Is this the first time you guys rode in a gummi ship?" Sora asked, smiling at the two of them.

"Well… I've never been out of my home town, so everything is a little new to me," Tohru said with a smile.

"Yeah," Marlene said with a nod too. "This is my first time, but it's awesome! We're so high up! Just look out the window Tohru!"

Nothing but deep space was outside the small ship as it sailed through the sky. Several stars could be seen, twinkling close up and in the distance. It was beautiful outside, several shades covered across the sky which gave it a calm look.

"Wow," Tohru started softly as the two girls stared outside the window.

"We shouldn't be meddling," Donald said, grabbing Sora's jacket and pulled him down to whisper range.

"We're not meddling," Sora said, giving the duck a grin. "We're just helping. Complete opposite of meddling."

Donald just sat there, glaring a bit. He plopped back down in his seat and crossed his arms, the pout on his beck. After what seemed like hours, the ship had pulled up towards something that was blinking on one of the screens.

"Is it a world?" Sora asked.

"Seems like it," Donald said as he turned to push a few buttons.

"Is it one we've been to before?" Sora asked, as he leaned over Goofy's shoulder.

"Nope, doesn't look like it," Goofy said.

"World?" Marlene asked. "Wait… world? What world? I've never really been passed Station Heights!"

"I've never really been out of the city…." She started.

Marlene just looked at her for a minute, blinking her eyes. "You've… never been out of your own city?"

"Kinda.. A little hard to explain," Tohru said, rubbing the back of her head.

"Get ready! We're about to land, but most of the time it's really hard," Sora said as he took his seat back.

Marlene and Tohru both blinked their eyes at each other and placed their seat belts back on.

"Most of the times, the landings are a little rough, so you guys might want to make sure you're really strapped in," Sora said as he turned to smile at the girls.

The two nodded as they felt a sudden lurch and Marlene's head knocked back against the seat.

"Asteroids!" Goofy shouted.

Sora's smile quickly faded from his face as he grabbed a hold of the controls in front of him and starred ahead as the asteroids approached. Marlene rubbed the back of her head with a wince and blinked as she saw what was coming.

"What the heck!?!" She exclaimed and she grabbed onto her seat.

"Whatever you guys do, don't unbuckle yourselves," Goofy said as the three started to try and maneuver through the field.

The gummi shipped tossed and jerked, causing them all to hit against the seats. Marlene's knuckles were turning white as she held on to the seat, but there was a wrenching feeling against her arm, as Tohru was holding onto Marlene's arm with her life. There were loud explosions and Tohru even wondered if they would get through this with even an ounce of life left. Asteroids being blown up, sounds of the remaining debris hitting against the gummi ship, the sounds of the fires from the guns, it was enough to make anyone wet their pants.

"Aaaaand," Sora started, the smile returning on his face. "We're through!"

Marlene had let go of the arm rests, but Tohru's hand was still latched onto the arm. Marlene looked at Tohru and then Tohru looked back at her.

"You OK?" Marlene asked.

"I… think so," Tohru said, rubbing the back of her head.

"You guys ready?" Sora asked.

Marlene had unlocked her seat belt, and went to get up, accidentally knocking into Tohru. Tohru oof-ed as she fell back onto her seat and Marlene fell forwards. Sora blinked as he caught her and she looked up at him for a moment. She blinked her eyes as she looked up to Sora's eyes, a blush quickly appeared on her cheeks again as she pulled away.

His…. his eyes, Marlene thought as she placed her hands against her cheeks. His eyes look just like Roxas's…

"Are you alright?" Sora asked, blinking as Marlene jumped out of his hands.

"Fine," Marlene said and then saw Tohru sitting back in her seat. "Oh no! Tohru are you OK? I didn't mean to run into you."

"I'm OK," Tohru smiled as she stood up again. "I actually didn't think it was going to be that tough."

"Gawsh, the hard part is about to start, we have no idea where we're at," Goofy said.

"No.. idea," both girls said at the same time.

"Not one bit," Donald said. "So let's go investigate. You two STAY HERE."

"But-" Marlene started.

"He's right," Sora said, placing his hands behind his head. "We don't know where we're at, and there might be some heartless or something just waiting for us outside. It would be safer if you two stay here."

"But… but I HAVE A KEYBLADE!" Marlene shouted. "I can take care of myself!"

Sora shook his head. "You haven't fought as much as we have, what if something here is really skilled. You might get hurt, I don't want to see you both getting hurt."

"Alright Sora, we'll stay," Tohru said, her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

"Tohru!" Marlene started.

Tohru just continued to smile. Marlene sighed and hung her head as she just waved a hand of 'good-bye' to the other three. Sora smile as he waved his hand. Goofy waved as well as Donald just huffed and walked out. After the three were gone for a few minutes, Marlene grabbed her head and screamed slightly.

"We are NOT children! We've fought too and we're pretty damn good!" Marlene shouted as she turned to Tohru, slightly glaring. "Why are we staying?"

"In a few minutes, we can leave," Tohru smiled.

"Huh?" Marlene asked, blinking her eyes.

"Well, there was no way that Sora would let us leave with him knowing. So we might as well just sneak out," Tohru smiled, holding up a finger. "Thus, comes the saying: What he doesn't know, won't hurt us, right"  
Marlene smiled and laughed a bit. "I like the way you think sometimes Tohru! Come on, let's go!"

Tohru nodded her head, smiling still. "Right!"

The two walked towards the portal that Sora and his friends went too and both stood there as a yellow light around the two and they both stood outside the gummi ship. Marlene sneezed as she wrapped her arms around her.

"Ugh, it's cold," she said as she looked around.

Snow was all over the ground, and small flakes dropped through the air. Bamboo was growing all over the place as rocks were sitting on the ground.

"Where… are we?" Tohru asked, blinking her eyes.

"No… idea," Marlene said as the two started to walk down the path.

Tohru followed her and looked around. The world was something neither of them has ever seen. The bamboo was thick, and couldn't exactly be seen through. Rocks were found scattered along the ground, being the only other thing that could be seen on the ground. Tohru looked up towards the distance, Marlene did too as they saw a large mountain in the distance.

"Wow," Marlene started. "This is place is cool."

"I'm just cold," Tohru said, shivering slightly.

Marlene looked around as they saw down near the bottom of the path was a camp.

"Hey! Let's see if we can rest there," Marlene said, pointing her finger.

Nodding, they both made their way down the path. Marlene slipped on some ice, but quickly caught herself on a limb. They both had finished their trek down to the camp and looked around. There was no one in the camp, which gave it an eerie silence. The wind blew the flag around, making the only noise besides the wind itself.

"I don't like this," Tohru said as she looked around. "There's no people here."

"I don't like it either," Marlene said as she felt her key blade return to her hand.

Small shadows started to raise out of the ground and started to titter back and forth.

"This things AGAIN?" Marlene asked.

Tohru's weapon appeared in her hand as well as the two were forced to stand back to back with each other. Marlene's eyes were adverted up towards the mountains and she felt her breath being caught in her throat. A familiar blond was standing near the base of the mountain, waving his hand to her.

"It… can't be," Marlene started as she started to run towards him.

The heartless tried to jump at her, but Marlene pulled her key blade up, striking at the shadows that were trying to get into her way. Each one was knocked back against the ground, one jumped onto her back, causing her to fall forward. She tucked and rolled against the soft snow, and sat up only to jump back into a run.

Roxas! She shouted in her head as she ran closer to the mountain.

"Marlene!" Tohru started, to yell but was stopped as the heartless had started to run over to her.

There was a loud cracking noise coming from the mountains and she looked to see a large wave of snow starting to fall from the top of the mountain. The avalanche started to fall down the slopes of the mountain, pushing it's mighty strength against anything that stood in it's way.

"MARLENE!" Tohru shouted again, but was knocked down by one of the shadows.

She grunted as she landed on the snow and looked up slowly. They were all started to titter towards her, their yellows eyes blinking and just staring at her. Tohru's hand clinched as she tried to stand up. A shadow had jumped into the air, about to land on her, but something black appeared out of the ground and slammed itself against the shadow. She glared as she stood up slowly, another neo shadow appeared in front of her, it was the one that had attacked the shadow. Another one started to appear while more appeared around her. The large shadows took on each one of the smaller ones, and Tohru pulled out her epée once more. Tohru stood there with two neo shadows, taking down the shadows one at a time. When the last one fell, Tohru looked up to see if Marlene was OK, but the only thing she saw was the avalanche coming right at her.

"Better run," Tohru said as she started to run away from the camp.

The two neo heartless had started to run with her, and she tripped over something. When she looked up, there was a rock sitting under the hidden blanket of snow. She tried to stand up again and stopped as she saw something black jump over her and then didn't see anything else.

Marlene held on tight to the side of the mountain as the avalanche had started to push its way down the mountain. She knew Tohru was going to be angry at her, leaving like that without saying a word. Marlene didn't mean too, she knew that figure she saw in the distance was Roxas, and her body reacted without her even thinking. When the avalanche stopped, she let go and started to walk against the soft snow. She looked around, not seeing anything but snow as far as the eye could see. She thought she heard something and looked up towards the stop of the mountain and saw him standing near the top.

"Roxas!" She shouted as she started to run up the powdery snow. "Roxas!"

He was waving to her, as she ran up to him, and stopped several feet away, breathing hard as she had slipped up the snow.

"Roxas… it's you, isn't it?" She asked, breathing heavily.

"Who else would it be?" He said with a smile, his arms opened wide.

She felt her cheeks flush as she watched him smile. Tears started to drip down her cheeks as she ran over to him and tripped into his grasp. Her face rubbed against his chest as she held onto him, and felt his arms wrapped around her's too.

"Everyone else," she cried softly. "They forgot about you, but I didn't.. I wouldn't. I would never forget you."

"I know," he said as he held her with a smile.

The snow fell as the two were silently holding each other.

"Marlene, there's something you need to know," Roxas said as looked down at her. "You got to keep going, it can't end here."

"What do you mean? Tohru's down there, we can all go home together! Then the other's will remember you! Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Tohru now too! We can all go home and just live together like we used too!" Marlene said as she looked up at him.

"Marlene," he said as he held a sad look in his eyes. "It's not that easy… I can't stay here for long, and I want you to know that you have to stay with Sora and the others! No matter what! You might not know it, but we're together all the time. I won't ever leave you."

"Roxas," Marlene started, the tears starting to flow down her cheeks again. "I can't, no, I won't let you leave me again! I don't think I could handle it again… being so alone."

"Someone once told me," he said as he smiled down at her. "We'll meet again, but you won't recognize me. Don't worry Marlene, I'll always be with you."

He pulled away from her slowly, his hand gently caressed the side of her cheek, brushing away the tears as she looked up at him. His hand moved away slowly as he started to turn away. She fell to her knees, watching as he started to run away from her.

"Roxas," Marlene started, the tears had stopped falling down her cheeks, but still remained unshed.

Her arms wrapped around her body, still feeling his warmth of the hug. She smiled slightly, she knew he was alright. He was there, she wasn't going completely crazy. She saw him, she hugged him. She felt his warmth even in the cold breeze of the mountain air. A small sigh passed her lips, and then a smile slowly started to form. She stopped for a moment, blinking her eyes as a sudden chill ran down her back.

"Oh crap, Tohru," Marlene started, forgetting all about her friend.

"Who would have thought that you would have came this far," said a voice from the black cloaked being.

His black gloved hand gently stroke the black hair out of her face. She groaned a bit as she turned her head towards the hand and the figure stopped for a moment. She was laying on the small river bank far from the avalanche. He stood up slowly and turned to walk away.

"Riku," she breathed out gently.

He stopped to turn back to her, his hand gently rested against his side as he looked down at her. Her eyes slowly opened as she looked up at him.

"Ahh!" She shouted as she jumped up quickly and almost fell back.

The figure just stood there for a moment, not saying anything and placed his hands behind his back.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

He didn't reply.

"What did you do? Where am I?" Tohru started, her voice started to crack from fear. "Huh? Marlene?! Where's Marlene?!"

"Your friend is safe," said an older man's voice.

"Who are you?" She asked again.

"A friend."

He had started to walk away from her again, and she looked down at the ground for a moment.

"Wait," she started. "Do.. Do you know where Riku is?"

"Riku?" He asked.

"Yes," she said, standing up slowly. "He has… long silver hair, a little below shoulder length. Blue eyes too…"

"Afraid not," he replied quickly as he turned away.

"You do know!" She started.

"What?"

"You replied way to fast for that!" She started to walk towards him slowly. "I'm worried about him.. And Sora's looking for him too."

"I know that."

"Then you know him!"

"Uh.. A little bit of yes and no."

"Take me to him!"

"I can't."

"Why not?!" She started.

"I can't."

She stood there, glaring at him slightly and looked away. "Can.. You give him something for me?"

"What?"

The figure looked at her and watched as she reached behind her head and took off the silver star chocker that was resting against her neck and held it out to him.

"Give this to him?"

"Why are you doing this?" He asked, reaching for the necklace.

"He's my friend," she said, closing her eyes and smiling. "I want him to know, I remember him and I'm looking for him."

"I'll… relay the message," he said as a portal appeared behind him and he stepped backwards into it.

When the figure disappeared, Tohru sighed softly. She was even more lost then she was before. Here she thought Riku was just on another world, but then that cloaked figure knew him and wouldn't take her to him.

"TOHRU!!!!!!"

Tohru was pushed out of her trance as she felt something tackle her from behind and blinked as she saw a honey brunette hugging her from behind.

"I am SO sorry," Marlene said as she turned Tohru around to look at her. "I saw Roxas though! I got so ahead of myself that I forgot all about you! Are you OK?! Did that weirdo freak do anything to you"  
Tohru blinked her eyes at Marlene and smiled as she closed her eyes. "Nope, I'm fine. He… I don't know who that was, he kinda… was just… here."

"Kinda just here?" Marlene asked.

Tohru just nodded her head. "Yep."

"You're weird," Marlene said, narrowing her eyes a bit. "Are you sure he didn't do anything to you? I mean, come on. A cloaked person? Seems like a closet pervert if you ask me."

"Closest pervert?" Tohru asked, blinking her eyes.

"Oh Tohru," Marlene said, patting her shoulder.

"Um, are you two friends of Sora?" Asked a new voice and they both looked up to see another girl standing in the not to far distance.

She had short black hair, that was a little above her shoulders and black eyes. She was wearing light green shirt with a darker collar and light green pants. Her hair was loose and falling against her face as the wind blew.

"You know Sora?" Tohru asked, blinking her eyes at the new girl.

"Yes, he just left not to long ago," she said as she looked at them. "Are you his friends?"

"HE LEFT?!" Marlene shouted. "He left us?! HERE?!? By OURSELVES?!"

"I guess this is kinda punishment for leaving the gummi ship," Tohru said, placing her hand against the side of her cheek.

"What are we suppose to do?!" Marlene said as she looked at Tohru. "We're STUCK HERE!"

"Well, if you two are stuck here, you can stay with me," the girl said as she smiled.

"We don't want to intrude," Tohru said with a smile.

"You won't be but I have to go back to the palace, you might get warmer there, you both look pretty cold," she said as she waved her hand. "Follow me."

They both looked at each other and started to walk after her.

"Oh, by the way, my name is Mulan," she said with a smile. "Fa Mulan."

"I'm Marlene, and this is Tohru," she said. "So.. Where are we heading?"

"Well, the war is finally over and there's a victory party being held at the palace. I was coming to make sure none of the other soldiers were still up here guarding the gates."

"So.. You're a warrior?" Tohru asked.

"Was," Mulan said with a smile. "The battle is over, and the warriors are no longer needed."

The two girls got quiet as they looked at Mulan. She was small, just like them, and both wondered how someone so small could be a warrior? They reached the palace and both Tohru and Marlene both let out a soft 'wow'. There were small lamps that lit up all round the palace, causing soft pink and blue lights. People were all over the place, laughing and singing for the war was over. Mulan escorted the two girls towards the main palace stairs. Marlene was looking at the people and the decorations. Girls were dressed in Chinese dresses, and shooting off small fireworks. She remembered when her and Roxas were doing the same thing off the beach and sighed softly to herself.

At least I know he's alive, she thought to herself.

Tohru was acting just like a little kid. Seeing all these new things and never experienced the strange original aromas. She sniffed the air and sighed happily as she placed her hands together.

"What is that wonderful smell?" Tohru asked.

"That would be the incense," Mulan smiled at the travelers.

They walked up the long set of stairs and then the large doors were opened and a long table could be seen. Food rested along the table, along with other men that were dressed a little similar to Mulan. An older man, with orange robes stood up.

"Welcome back Mulan, did you find your two warriors?" He asked.

"No your Highness, but I did find these two. I watched as they fought in the camp from a distance and saw they were also help against the war and invited them to the feast," Mulan said, bowing.

Tohru and Marlene both looked at each other and quickly dropped to the ground to bow as well. The old man chuckled as he kept his hands in his robes.

"Stand my children of China, and enjoy the wonderful food that my servants had prepared for you," he said pulling his hands out towards the table.

Tohru and Marlene were both sitting down at the end of the table, staring at the large amounts of food that was placed in front of them.

"Do you know what this is?" Tohru asked, holding one of the slices of meat up with her chopsticks.

Marlene just looked at her. "Looks like cat…"

The long raven haired girl sweat dropped as she heard this and looked back at it. "I think I'll stick with the fruit"  
Marlene had started to eat the food, slowly at first. Her mind was racing with thoughts of Sora. Why did she like him? What was about him that made her think so much about him? Why was she thinking about him now while eating her dinner? She kept eating the food that was in front of her and Tohru watched her quietly, with a raised eyebrow. Several plates started to pile up in front of Marlene as she continued to eat, and the other warriors had finished eating all their food and some where passed out at the table.

Man, what is it about Sora? He's NOTHING about him that's like Roxas! Roxas is just so much cuter and nicer and… Sora's nice too but…Marlene thought.

"Um.. Marlene, that was a napkin," Tohru started.

Marlene had stopped chewing and lifted the end of the napkin up to see. She pulled it out and laughed a bit as she placed it back down on the table.

"Wondered why it was so hard to chew and had no flavor," she said, rubbing the back of her head while laughing.

Tohru just smiled a bit as she stood up yawning. "I'm beat…"

"We should get going," Marlene said too standing up, but quickly grabbed her cup and drank some of the liquid in the glass. "We need to find out how to get back with Sora."

The other girl nodded her head and they both looked to see Mulan had left with Shang, who they had learned was the Captain of the group she was in. The two girls walked outside of the temple and stood on the stair way and looked around.

The sun had set completely and the dark sky was only lit up by the full moon.

"How pretty," Tohru smiled as she closed her eyes.

"Yeah," she started and then there was a growl. "Tohru…. You're still not hungry are you?"

"Huh?" Tohru started. "I thought that was you"  
The two just looked at each other and then there was a gust of wind, blowing their hair back. When they looked up, there was a dark, blood red colored Bengal tiger standing on the lower platform. A mask covered it's face, with the sign of a heartless engraved on the mask. Alongside it's paws were metal bands and it's tail flicked slightly. The golden yellow eyes gleamed at the two and growled at them.

"What the heck is that?!" Marlene shouted as the Starlit Forest appeared in her hand and gripped it tightly.

"It's got the same symbol on it's head that those other creatures have," Tohru said as she felt her weapon appear as well.

The tiger started to pounce up the stairs, bouncing off the statues that were against the stairs towards the two girls. Marlene jumped up onto one of the statues and then pulled her key blade up and swung it around, the tiger heartless was hit and bounced back down to the ground and started to rush at them again, this time taking a sharp turn to the left towards Tohru. Tohru pulled her epèe up and held it in front of her so the tiger knocked her back against the pillar. She cried out a bit in pain and then Marlene jumped onto the tiger's back and pulled the key blade down hard against it's head. Tohru shook her head and rubbed the bump and winced a bit. She stood up slowly and watched as Marlene rode the tiger like a mechanical bull. Marlene had grabbed onto the tiger's neck and was holding on for dear life. Tohru pulled the weapon up and started to rush at the tiger, and slide under it and watched as it hit the pillar that she had just slammed into. Marlene had let go and jumped down next to her. The tiger growled and shook it's head and the two girls noticed the large cracks in the pillar.

"That's… gonna leave a mark," Marlene grinned a bit, rubbing the back of her head.

The tiger lifted it's two front paws up into the air and slammed it onto the ground. Three energy strikes from both paws were aimed at the girls. They both jumped down to the second platform that the tiger was first on and panted softly. The tiger jumped into the air and crouched together and started to twirl in the air, causing more energy waves to be shot down at the two girls.

"Look out!" Tohru shouted as she jumped away, but Marlene was hit by the energy wave and fell down part of the stairs. "Marlene!"

Marlene winced as she dropped her key blade onto the ground and held onto her head. The tiger pounced down towards Marlene and sniffed the key blade as it growled again and started to move towards her. It's soft paws touching the ground, and shook some of the broken gravel that was on the ground. Marlene looked up at it's gold eyes, peering through the black mask, and it's fangs showed as it moved closer. She tried to reach for her key blade but it was out of reach and started to shake a bit as the tiger was now to her face. She felt it's hot breath coming from it's nose and then pulled it's claw back to strike.

"NO!"

There was a loud shout as Marlene saw a large black aura shoot out from the upper platform and knocked the tiger off it's feet. Marlene hurried to her feet and grabbed her key blade and looked up to see Tohru standing there. Her hair had fallen into her face, covering up some of her eyes as she panted a bit, sweat was dripped down her cheeks as she looked like she had been running a marathon. Marlene then turned around to see the tiger was in the courtyard and jumped ran down the stairs.

"I am so kicking your ass from doing that to me!" She shouted, the key blade had started to glow in her hands and she twirled it up in the air.The tiger stood up once more and started to run around in a circle, trying to keep the key blade wielder from hitting the target straight on. Marlene held up the key blade and then stopped twirling it to throw the star that was at the end of the blade hard against the ground. Just like the tiger's first attack, it cased a large energy wave to shoot out and then break off into more waves. The heartless jumped once more into the air, but then was hit by the aftershock of the attack. It fell hard onto the ground and Marlene just stood there, blinking her eyes as she looked at the weapon.

"How… did I do that?" She asked and then looked to see Tohru was starting to come down the stairs. "Tohru! Look I did it!"

"Look out!" Tohru started.

The tiger stood now behind Marlene, the mask had cracked, showing some of it's face and so was it's brackets against it's legs. It's gold eyes were staring at the two in anger as there was a loud roar. Marlene fell back and scrambled towards the stairs. She stood up and looked to see that Tohru was still rather wiped out.

"Are you OK?" She asked, looking at Tohru.

"I'm fine," she said, breathing hard. "You're gonna have to take the creature out yourself, I don't think I can move very well…"

"And you say you're fine," Marlene said with a small frown.

She turned towards the tiger once more and flexed her arms a bit.

"Alright, time to handle this once and for all," she said as she gripped the key blade in her hand and held it in front of her.

The tiger started to rush at her once more, jumping from one side to another to try and confuse Marlene. She watched and waited and then the tiger appeared right in front of her and she pulled the key blade up quickly, the star and moon at the tip of the key blade slammed itself into the jaw, causing the tiger to fall back against the ground. It growled, but at the same time whimpered. Trying to get up, Marlene walked over to the tiger and panted a little, she had used most of her own strength against the tiger and felt like she was going to fall down at any moment. It's gold eyes stared at her in anger as she grinned a bit and pulled the key blade down quickly, striking against the heartless symbol. The key blade struck hard and deep inside the symbol and they tiger let out a loud roar of pain before turning into black smoke and disappearing into the sky. Marlene fell back onto the ground and sighed as she looked up to the sky.

"Yep… such a pretty moon," she said with a slight grin.

Tohru walked over to her slowly and fell down next to her and grinned. "Yep."

The two just sat there for a few minutes, watching the moon shine and the stars were shining along with the moon. The clouds were passing over the sky in wisps, and Marlene fell back against the ground with her hands behind her head as she closed her eyes.

"We can't stay here, we have to find a way to get back with Sora," Marlene said as she felt the cool air blow against her face.

"Well, Sora was unlocking the doors to the worlds," Tohru said as she closed her own eyes, her hair flowing behind her as the wind blew. "If we can find the doors, I'm sure we can find Sora, Goofy and Donald…"

Marlene just nodded her head and sat up once more. "So how do we find these doors?"

"Hopefully not up a tree," Tohru laughed a little.

Marlene laughed as well. The two's laughter filled the large courtyard as they stood up slowly. Tohru dusted off the seat of her pants as Marlene rubbed the back of her head.

"Might as well start looking before they wake up," Marlene said as she started to look around the base of the stairs.

Tohru made her way up the stairs and stopped as she made it to the middle platform. She stood there and felt a rather sharp pain in her chest and she held her hand against it. The pain, was it coming from when hit she took? Couldn't have been, she hit her head, not her chest. Tears started to form in her eyes as she felt she couldn't take the fire burning in her chest.

"Tohru! I knew it, you weren't OK!" Marlene shouted as she ran up the stairs and placed a hand on Tohru's shoulder. "Sit down and relax!"

"It's… it's the door," Tohru whimpered as she closed her eyes, her eyebrows narrowed slightly. "It's right here, I feel it.."

"Huh?" Marlene asked, blinking her blue eyes at her friend. "The door? Where is it?"

Tohru lifted her hand slowly, the other still clenching her chest as she looked up. In front of the two girls, there was now a dark portal just standing there. Marlene blinked her eyes once more as she stepped towards the portal. She then stepped to the side and noticed it was just a simple line and behind it, still seeing the same as the front.

"Is this it?" She asked, peering at Tohru from behind the portal and Tohru nodded her head.

"I don't know where it will lead, but I have a feeling this is it," Tohru said as she removed her hand, trying to fight against the pain.

"We should wait until you feel better," Marlene said walking back over to the other girl.

"No," Tohru said, trying to hold back her heavy breathing. "We don't know if it's going to disappear or not, let alone if we can get it to open again… We should go now"  
Marlene nodded as she looked at Tohru and took her hand gently. "Come on, let's go."

Tohru nodded as well as the two walked into the dark portal. The inside of the portal looked like the portal itself. Dark colors swirled around the two of them but a small walkway could be seen as they headed down it. Marlene looked around, wondering where it was that they were heading. There was a strange pale pink light down farther from where they were at.

"Hey! That might be where Sora is!" Marlene said looking at her friend, her eyes widened slightly.

Tohru looked paler then normal and Marlene was starting to get worried. She kept her friend's hand in her own and started to hurry a little bit.

"Come on Tohru! You'll be fine!" Marlene said as she looked towards the light, which was coming closer.

They walked through the light and Marlene had let go of Tohru's hand to cover her eyes for a moment. When the light faded they were standing in another courtyard, different from the one they were just in a few moments ago. Several gargoyle statues were circled around them and rose bushes were planted against the side. Behind them was a large gate, and in front of them was another large castle. Unlike the one they were at just a moment ago. This castle was white with blue shingles, several towards and windows.

"Wow, this can't be China," Marlene started. "Right Tohru?"

She heard a low thump and looked behind her to see that Tohru was on the ground, her black hair covering her face.

'TOHRU!" Marlene shouted, kneeling down to her friend and gently pushed her shoulders.

"Oh, are you…" Came a new voice.

Marlene looked up and saw a brunette standing across from her. She was wearing a white blouse with a blue skirt and a white apron. In her hand was basket with several red roses inside. She looked to see that Tohru was laying on the ground.

"Let's get her inside the castle," she said as she held Marlene pick up Tohru and started to slowly lead them inside the castle. 


End file.
